tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4139995694491878634.post-5008417261570319862007-08-25T15:48:00.000-07:002007-08-25T16:10:46.942-07:00Saturday daytime television is, as I'm sure you are all aware, aimed at basically two types of people: children and sports fans.<br /><br />Since, for the most part, I'm not a sports fan, and those sports I am a fan of, I prefer to watch in person, I don't spend a lot of time on Saturdays watching sports.<br /><br />This of course, leaves cartoons.<br /><br />Cartoons have changed a great deal since I was growing up. These days, it's about marketing. Okay, to be fair, it was when I was growing up, as well. Hell, I grew up in the era of the Smurfs.<br /><br />I digress.<br /><br />So I've been watching a great deal of this stuff today and I've realized that the marketing of toys to boys tends toward the somewhat violent or the somewhat constructive.<br /><br />The marketing towards girls, however...<br /><br />There's these...things...They call them dolls, but that's not really the most accurate description I can think of.<br /><br />They're called <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bratz</span></span> and they teach young girls some very strange lessons (misspelling the word "brats" <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">being</span> the first.)<br /><br />I remember people saying that <span style="font-style: italic;">Barbie</span> was unnaturally proportioned. It is, of course, but these <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bratz</span></span> things make Barbie look like a fairly realistic depiction of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">teen aged</span> girl.<br /><br />These things have a body which would, if translated to full human proportions, make Kate Moss look like an absolute porker. Sorry, but I'm pretty sure young girls get enough body image problems from actual <span style="font-style: italic;">living</span> freaks of nature. I don't think it's really necessary to create a manufactured image that makes anorexics look somewhat chunky.<br /><br />Then, there's the fact that these plastic mutations have a head roughly <span style="font-style: italic;">HALF THE SIZE OF THE REST OF THEIR BODY! </span>On top of that, these things are always depicted in tight-fitting clothes (considering their body-type, I would have to image that a "life-sized" <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Bratz</span></span> thing would have difficulty keeping Spandex from looking baggy), strutting along a stage and not serving any other purpose in life.<br /><br />For this reason, I recommend calling these things what they actually are likely to inspire young girls to become: <span style="font-style: italic;">Tips-Only Strippers</span>! now with LAP-DANCE ACTION!Rev. Darkonoreply@blogger.com